House hacking and van life, how to do both?

[Grayson Camp]

Hi everyone,

We are approaching 1 year since we closed on our duplex. We purchased the duplex as our first brrr / house hack project. One year later and here we are ready to rent out both units, reap the benefits of our hard work, and move on to our next project.

But….. we have decided to try VAN LIFE. Where we will move into our self converted camper van and travel the lower 48 states, hopefully save money, and collect all the memories.

How do we navigate this with taxes and mortgage rules? We will be refinancing our duplex as we purchased it with a 3.5% down FHA loan. And we both work full time remote w2 jobs.

Can we claim the duplex as our primary residence if it is fully rented out and we are traveling? Can we purchase a new multi family with an FHA and claim a unit as our primary residence but still travel full time? If so, could we Airbnb while we travel, yet still claim it as our primary during first year?

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

[James Horner]

Hey Grayson,

I am about to do the same thing! I just finished a single family that I am renting out the end of September and moving to my westfalia to some adventures. Technically when you fully rent out your property you will need to change your insurance over and you would have to change your residence. I just use a friend of mines property for that. I have heard some get a P.O box to have their mail sent to it. Nothing would have change with your mortgage. If you buy another property you would then have to plan to live in it for 2 years in order to purchase it with an FHA loan. Or you could purchase it through a commercial loan and that doesn't mean you have to live in it or have an LLC (tho that is the safest option) Your loan term usually is shorter and the interest rate tends to be a bit more but worth it in the long run if you are trying to grow.